Chitin oligosaccharides for the food industry: production and applications

Abstract

Chitin oligosaccharides (CHOS), high-value-added oligomers linked by N-acetyl-d-glucosamine (GlcNAc, NAG), and a small amount of d-glucosamine (GlcN, GA), have aroused increasing interest due to their excellent biological properties, including antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and immunoprotective activities, and intestinal regulation. The efficient production and utilization of CHOS with high performance can solve problems from chitin as biowaste. However, the large-scale production of well-defined CHOS has not been fully accomplished due to the limited biotechnology and separation methods, thus impeding the research on their biological functions as well as their accurate applications. In this review, we comprehensively summarize the current preparation methods of CHOS, including the chemical, physical, enzymatic and biosynthetic methods. The advantages and disadvantages of the methods are discussed in terms of efficiency, economy, and environmental effects. Furthermore, the applications of CHOS in the food industry and their contributions to human health based on their excellent bioactivities are expounded. It is hoped that this review will help in providing new insights into the production of CHOS with high precision, and support the application of CHOS in serving the food industry as nutritional supplements or foods for special medical purposes. KeywordsChitin • Chitin oligosaccharides • Chitooligosaccharides • Production • Food applications Abbreviations CHOS Chitin oligosaccharides; N-acetyl chitooligosaccharides COS Chitooligosaccharides GlcNAc, NAG N-Acetyl-d-glucosamine GlcN, GA d-Glucosamine

Fishery waste valorization: Sulfated ZrO2 as a heterogeneous catalyst for chitin and chitosan depolymerization

“…Moreover, they suffer from high cost and long reaction time, thus their use is often limited to the laboratory scale. ( Kaczmarek et al, 2019 ) ( Mohan et al, 2022 ) ( Zhang et al, 2022 ) The use of toxic and dangerous homogeneous systems, such as mineral acids (HNO 3 , H 2 SO 4 , and HCl) or free radicals, sometimes with the aid of mechanical treatments, is reported so far. ( Harish Prashanth and Tharanathan, 2007 ) ( Einbu and Vårum, 2008 ) ( Zhang and Yan, 2017 ) ( Yabushita et al, 2015 ) Some processes end up in the loss of the N atom from the resulting product.…”

“…Moreover, they suffer from high cost and long reaction time, thus their use is often limited to the laboratory scale. (Kaczmarek et al, 2019) (Mohan et al, 2022) (Zhang et al, 2022) The use of toxic and dangerous homogeneous systems, such as mineral acids (HNO 3 , H 2 SO 4 , and HCl) or free radicals, sometimes with the aid of ) Some processes end up in the loss of the N atom from the resulting product. This is the case of ionic liquids (Hou et al, 2020) and of a combination of SnCl 4 •5H 2 O with microwave irradiation (Omari et al, 2012), where HMF and levulinic acid were obtained.…”